Friday, 30 September 2016

Mourinho refers to ‘poisoned gift’ after
win over Zorya

Manchester United have been given a “poisoned gift” of a fixtureschedule when the Europa League resumes, yet Jose Mourinhowill not allow any let-up when Fenerbahce arrive in betweenclashes with Liverpool and Chelsea.A fortnight on from losing their Group A opener at Feyenoord, theUnited manager highlighted the importance of securing victoryagainst relatively unknown ZoryaLuhansk at Old Trafford.The Ukrainians made life tough but ZlatanIbrahimovic’s close-range header secured a 1-0 win, kick-starting a campaign thatcontinues in October at home to Fenerbahce.The Turkish giants arrive three days after United travel to rivalsLiverpool for a fascinating Monday night Premier League clash,with the Europa League clash bookended by Mourinho’s firstreturn to Chelsea on the Sunday.“Well, we could play Liverpool on the Saturday, we could playLiverpool on the Sunday,” the United manager said. “We playLiverpool on the Monday.“So maybe we don’t have the best conditions, especially becausewe play against two top Premier League games that don’t play inEuropean competitions.“We had this kind of poisoned gift of playing on the Monday. Thatcreates a very difficult situation, but we want to try and qualify forthe next round. We want to try.“(There is a) long time to go, almost a month, but we want to try,so we will play against Fenerbahce with a team with possibilitiesto beat Fenerbahce.”Asked if he tried to get the Liverpool games moved back fromMonday or whether that was impossible, he said: “I think it isimpossible.“The poisoned gift is already there, so what can you do? We justhave to play Monday, and then Thursday, and then StamfordBridge on the Sunday.“But before that we have Stoke (this Sunday), so let us concentrateon Stoke because it is another poisoned gift because Stoke is notwhat the table says.“The manager is very good, the players are good, the team is good,so when I look to the table, that’s not Stoke’s position.“I play against a good Stoke and not the Stoke in that position inthe table.”United will be looking for a fourth straight win in all competitionswhen Mark Hughes’ side arrive at Old Trafford on Sundaylunchtime.Mourinho accepts they did not play “amazingly well” against Zoryabut got the job done, saying he was impressed with WayneRooney’s impact after coming off the bench for a secondsuccessive match.“He was laughing and saying he made a great assist,” the Unitedboss said, regarding his strike into the ground which led toIbrahimovic’s winner. “But, really, he gave me what the team needs at that time, which isa presence, a second presence in the box.“He is more a striker than Juan (Mata) and Juan went more to theright side.

“(Anthony) Martial brought, after the goal, freshness and speed,also to try to kill the game, which we didn’t but he was a positivepresence, too.

“We started the game with a very good team and I had on mmbench also players to give me solutions for everything.

“We have proof to win matches in the Europa League that we needto be good, we need to play seriously because they are goodteams.”

Source- Man United blog

* I love to put up posts about this man (Mourinho), cause, he is the only coach i believe is loved by many, and at the same time, a lot of people dislike he,-reason for disliking him? They call him a loquaciousman,